Another extremely competitive year in the cinema awards race comes to a close with the Oscars this Sunday, so here I am to make my predictions once again. It’s been an interesting year and for the first time in a bit there are no nominees that make me really scratch my head. 2013 had a lot of fantastic films to offer and while all of them are not represented here, there are still some pretty good ones from which to choose (including 4 of my own top 10 in the “best picture” category). As usual, the precursors seem to have most categories sewn up already, although there is some pleasant suspense in top categories. Last year threw us some curveballs with the nominations coming out before the guilds announced their winners, but with a few exceptions everything was closer to normal this year. Also worth noting: in the few places where I could not settle on a clear first choice I tried to let my personal preference guide me (when it was a realistic possibility). That worked out quite well for me last year - 21 out of 24 categories correct – but that streak will almost certainly end here: For the first time, I’m not sure on my choice for best picture. This is also the first year I have seen all of the documentary and foreign language nominees before the ceremony, so there are even more places for me to be disappointed since I feel much more invested in each of them.